The REAL rain returns

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an entry entitled “Today’s forecast: Monsoon”. Well, since then it’s been dry, really dry, and hot. This afternoon that all changed.

I was sitting on the porch, two floors up this afternoon enjoying my new splurge – WiMax – internet in my home, finally. Expensive, but I want to make communication with the family much easier. Cost is $110 per month(!!) and that’s for only 500mb per month. It’s .10 per mb thereafter. In one hour this morning I burned through 28mb…oh boy (I'm taking donations!). If you want to Skype me, my handle is “scottroy” without the quotation marks. I’d love to hear from you.

Anyway, back to the rains. The clouds built up and I thought, ‘gee, I sure wish it would finally rain!’

Be careful what you wish for!

All it took was 30 minutes of hell-bent-for-leather breaking loose and the streets were completely flooded. I mean F L O O D E D. My lovely little intersection below the balcony had 18 inches or more in the center. Bikes and motos being pushed by hand and people strolling up to their kneecaps in the stuff. The curbs had disappeared. The occasional automobile threw waves into the adjacent properties. Now I understand why there are so many SUVs in town – to simply clear the water!

But what amazed me was the laughter I heard – and not from just a few children. From the depths of this “big problem” came a guttural joy of the highest order. Lightning crackling all around us, thunder rumbling like a freight train, and yet sheer mirth infused the masses.

Once again, a lesson in Cambodian life. From people who really know what struggling is all about, I learn that life’s little (and big) inconveniences are to be accepted, embraced, and even celebrated.

It’s like the multitudes are chanting: “It is as it is, so why not enjoy it?”